Injured Pence suits up for practice, sits out

JOSE DE JESUS ORTIZ, Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle

Published 6:30 am, Wednesday, February 20, 2008

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — Although he couldn't participate in the whole workout because of the lacerations he suffered late Monday night, Hunter Pence donned his Astros uniform and watched his teammates go through their second day of full-squad workouts.

At one point, he even volunteered to step into the batting cage and track pitches during live batting practice because no other hitter was available at that exact time. Manager Cecil Cooper quashed that idea, finding no reason to risk further injury to the man expected to start in right field and hit sixth in the lineup this year.

"I feel a little guilty," Pence said. "There's nothing I can do. If it's going to happen, it might as well happen now so we can get it out of the way and be a minor little speed bump. There's a big picture for the Astros, and we'll laugh at this later, hopefully."

If anything, Cooper and the impetuous Pence hope a lesson is learned from the accident.

"Maybe it is a blessing in disguise to slow (Pence) down a little bit," Cooper said.

Pence suffered many lacerations throughout his body, including a big one on his left knee and another major one on his right index finger, when he shattered a sliding glass door in his apartment as he tried to hop on a ledge to reach a hot tub.

"I was just running, running right through a window," he said. "Hopefully I can learn a lesson. I'm going to try to take the good out of it. I gotta be more careful everywhere I go. I can't just be that reckless."

Nonetheless, it was impossible for Pence to have just sat out from practice.

He grabbed a bat and took some "dry" swings on Wednesday, just to test how it would feel without needing to hit a ball.

"With good luck I'll be back in there in three or four more days, possibly," he said. "We just want it to seal up before I start bending (the left knee) too much. I think they told me they're going to try to let me throw tomorrow and maybe take some swings. The (right) hand is the main problem.

"They don't want me to reopen this thing, whatever it is on my (right index) finger. If they let it seal up, it won't keep reopening up on me. The injuries aren't bad. It just takes a little time to get them sealed up so I can play."

Pence read some comments from fans wondering if he was drunk during the episode, which he said occurred about 9:30- to 10 p.m., and he is adamant his accident was not caused by alcohol.

"No, I was not drunk at all," he said.

Regardless, he understood why some folks wondered even though many of the friends who called to check on him shared similar stories of banging into glass doors.

He even jokes about possibly putting little butterfly stickers on his sliding glass door to make it clear when the door is closed.

"Well, I mean, I would think the same thing if I heard the story, but, you know," he said. "If you knew me I'm prone to sometimes (having) kind of a little reckless abandon. I feel like it's funny. Early in the day I kept hitting my elbow on things and I hit my shins on the coffee table.

"I was like, 'Man, I just have it out for myself today.' And, ironically, later that night I didn't know I was going to jump through the door."

Pence hopes he is allowed to do some light exercises by Thursday.

"They said I can walk around," he said. "I can stretch, certain stretches, and I can do abs. I'll try to hold on to as much as I can. Fortunately it's not going to be too long."

And for those wondering, "No, (I) can't get in the hot tub for a while," he said.